Taj Ma-huh??? part 7…

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Okay, I don’t know what that is, or how I did it, but I know I like it.

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Taj Ma-huh??? part 6…

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Okay, it’s just a photo of the Taj Mahal, run through a filter that makes it look like a charcoal drawing, but, because I painted in funny colors in Photoshop first, it does lead to some strange effects.

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Taj Ma-huh??? part 5…

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Oh yeah… that, my friends, is what happens when you use a ‘neon’ filter on a photo of the Taj Mahal that you already added funky colors to in Photoshop.

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Taj Ma-huh??? part 4…

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Oh yeah, when you add some color to the Taj Mahal, and then use a filter to make it a negative image… and it comes out positively positive!

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My daughter really knows how to throw a party… the final chapter…

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There is my daughter, Mollie, on the right, holding little Olivia. Mollie graduated from high school. Olivia hasn’t started school yet.

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Well, we all knew I was going to throw a random selfie in here somewhere, right?

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So these are the last photos from Mollie’s graduation party, organized by her older sister.

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I saved most of the Olivia pictures for the last post… because I love that kid… I mean, obviously, I love my own kids too. But two-year-olds are just so awesome. There is Olivia’s dad, Joey, lurking in the background… like dads do. He is going to be the father of new twins very soon… so I am going to get more babysitting jobs. HA! He is also a friend of my wife’s, from when they grew up in San Diego together.

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Okay, here is why kids are awesome when they are two. Because everything is magical, but it also makes sense, because it is what they see. Adults can’t accept magic and reality simultaneously.  They think everything is either/or.

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But watch a two-year-old play with helium balloons. Flying balloons. That is magical, but it must be real, because they can see them.

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All their lives, they have watched gravity make anything they let go of cause that thing to drop to the ground. Now, all of a sudden, gravity don’t mean doodely-squat.

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But they totally roll with it… as long as there is someone around who is tall enough to get the balloons back down off the ceiling. Magic and reality.

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I do miss when my daughters were that age, and I was a stay-at-home-dad… before it was cool to be one.

 

 

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My daughter graduated high school… (or): My daughter really knows how to throw a party… part 3…

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There she is, my younger daughter, Mollie. Remember, she is 18, so she can be on the blog now, according to my wife. We were at the awesome graduation party that my other daughter, Jessica, organized. Mollie has a new camera. It is sort of like mine, only better. You can also see my mom, who came all the way to San Diego to see Mollie graduate… yes, I know, I was just up in the Bay Area visiting my mom until last weekend… hey, we get around.

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Yes, my little buddy, Olivia, was there too. She loves Mollie. There is Olivia’s dad in the background. If he looks a little frazzled, remember, they are having twins any day now… not him and Mollie, him and his wife, silly!  Oh, yeah… more babysitting for me!

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There is my older daughter, Jessica, with my new son-in-law, Jason.

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I tried to use the photo-op-wall, just one of the many decorations Jessica was responsible for, but the sun was in my face, so I moved over, and missed part of the wall. HA! Remember, Jessica planned this whole party, and did all the decorations… just like she did for her own wedding. We are an artistic people.

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Jason, with Mollie’s boyfriend, Dashawn.

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No, Jessica doesn’t hate me… she was being silly. I told her the picture was going on the blog… no… she doesn’t hate you either. And there is Beth. Jessica met Jason, her husband, and Beth, her best friend, at the college they all went to… which is where Mollie is going, at the end of the summer.

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Just a few of the honors and trophies and awards Mollie has earned, just at school.

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Yeah, she was a cheerleader, with impeccable grades, who is going to go into the medical field. Did I mention my daughters are awesomely smart, sweet and artistic?

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A bunch of photos of Mollie. My wife came up with a great idea a long time ago. If you have kids, put copies of all the photos, on top of one another, inside the same frame. This is a great way to keep the pictures safe, and you can always find them… when you want to do something like this.

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All the cool tikis were there… (or): My daughter really knows how to throw a party… part 2…

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I love that my older daughter threw a party that was tropical-themed… because it let me get all my tikis out…

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Yes, there is… uh… okay, I don’t have a name for that one… but I love it.

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That is the ‘having a bad day’ tiki…

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Happy Buddha tiki!

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There is my crazy. Pop-eyed Coyote tiki.

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He is hanging out below ‘Angry Elvis’ tiki.

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There is the tiki that is going to look exactly like me… when I finish him… me…

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He… I… am hanging out with some of my… our… friends.

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Yes, there were yard-flamingos too… don’t judge us…

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I think I will start calling him ‘Slim’.

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I call that one ‘Popeye’… I like the gold tooth.

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Scary Mouth and the Friendly Ghost!

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Halloween Totem, Eagle Totem, and Easter Island Head… by my awesome Fire God fire pit… I didn’t make that, it was a Father’s Day gift.

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It was also a chance to get out the ‘Cornhole’… (Google it)… game boards… which I made for my older daughter’s wedding just a while ago. The great thing is that the initials are the same for my daughter and my new son-in-law, so that’s cool.

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And we played the Giant Jenga game I made for the wedding too.

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Why yes, that is a giant, inflatable flamingo with a tub full of beer in the middle… (or): My daughter really knows how to throw a party… part 1…

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So, our younger daughter, Mollie, just graduated from high school this weekend, and we had a big party to celebrate. Our older daughter, Jessica… yes, the one that got married just a while back, and organized and planned her own wedding… is the one who coordinated this event.

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Nobody runs with a theme like Jessica. She hand-cut the dozens of leaves to turn donuts into little pineapples.

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My wife helped too. Those are watermelon squares on either side of a slice of feta cheese… drizzled in chocolate balsamic vinegar.

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We also had lumpia… shut up, stupid, squiggly, red, spell-checker line, lumpia is too a real word… is is like a Filipino version of a rolled taco.

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Mmmmm… pineapple dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with coconut… and some coconut macaroons.

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Jessica designed a wall for photos…

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And there were funny photo props… on sticks…

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Jessica also hand-painted a bunch of rocks to look like little cacti.

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And then she put them in pink pots with pink rocks.

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She also had my new son-in-law drive her to a flower market, to buy fresh stuff to decorate the tables. And I pulled out all my tikis… more on that later.

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It was a pretty awesome party.

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Taj Ma-huh??? part 3…

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Yeah… if the Taj Mahal was made of rubber, painted in funny colors, and you were on LSD.

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Taj Ma-huh??? part 2…

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It looks even more fanciful as a painting!

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